Wales

Wales

For a small country, Wales manages to cram in quite a bit. We’re not just talking about our mountains, valleys and beaches. Whether you’re after culture, exercise, adventure or peace and quiet, they’re all here.

Wales’ scenery is spectacular - the facts speak for themselves - two thirds of Wales’ 8,000 square miles is sparsely populated countryside. Almost a quarter of its land area lies in three National Parks – Snowdonia, Brecon Beacons and Pembrokeshire Coast. It also has five Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty; the Gower Peninsula (the first area in Britain to be designated an ‘Area of Outstanding Beauty’); the Wye Valley; the Anglesey Coast; the Llŷn Peninsula; and the Clwydian Range.

Castles of course, are what Wales does very well, there are 641 of them in fact. They range form Harlech, Beaumaris, Caernarfon and Conwy, part of Edward l’s mighty iron ring of castles in the North, to romantic hilltop fortresses such as Carreg Cennen near Llandeilo.

Wales is a land of infinite variety – in terms of its terrain and in the range of activities that our countryside and coastline offer the holidaymaker. You can cave and leap from cliffs into green seas while coasteering in Pembrokeshire or on Llyn. You can go white-water rafting or canoeing at Tryweryn or Plas Menai. Wales earns £500m a year from walkers and attracts riders, mountain bikers and golfers galore with some 200 courses that please the eye and test the handicap. We also have 43 Blue Flag resort beaches and a further 50 Green Flag rural beaches along more than 700 miles of unspoilt coastline.

And for a rainy day, we have some of the best museums in the UK – the state-of-the art National Waterfront Museum in Swansea, and the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff that has one of the finest collections of Impressionist paintings outside France – to cite just three. And the big Pit mining Museum which won the Gulbenkian Prize of museum of the year in the 2005. And the range of attractions extends from the caves at Dan-yr-Ogof to King Arthur’s Labyrinth at Corris.

In Wales you know where you are. You get a true sense of place. Our hotels have character, personality. From five-star hotels to tipis, there is something to meet every taste and to suit all pockets.

For more information log on to www.visitwales.com

Holiday Times in South Wales

In which UK region can you visit the first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty; the only coastal National Park in; a capital city and climb to the top of the highest peak in southern Britain? South Wales of course!

Short Breaks in Wales

For a small country, Wales manages to cram in quite a bit. We’re not just talking about our mountains, valleys and beaches. Whether you’re after culture, exercise, adventure or peace and quiet, they’re all here. And ‘here’ isn’t too far - with no need to fly, change currency or speak a new language. Though if you’d like to speak Europe’s oldest living language, we’re always happy to chat.